With both Action Express Cadillacs hitting trouble as the night wears on in Florida, it’s come down the the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi and #22 ESM Nissan up front. The Nissan DPi was waved through onto the leading lap and back into the running during the most recent caution, which was called to allow the marshals to recover the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini that hit the wall hard on the exit of the Bus Stop with Brett Sandberg driving.
The #5 Action Express Caddy suffered a brake light issue once again, after leading a good portion of the eighth hour, which forced the team to replace the rear-end for a second time in pit road. After slipping down the order to fourth, Barbosa has driven the car back onto the lead lap and into third sport.
The #31 meanwhile underwent lengthy repairs which cost the car six laps, after damage sustained from the incident with the #88 Starworks PC Oreca caused issues with the steering wheel and starter. Cameron is now back behind the wheel and a distant sixth overall, behind the #90 Visit Florida Riley/Multimatic and #2 ESM Nissan Ligier.
At the head of the field, Action Express’ woes coupled with the WTR lapping slower has brought the Nissan DPi into the lead. The WTR Cadillac was delayed when Jeff Gordon climbed aboard in the driving rain, and lost a handful of seconds each lap during his stint. This allowed Brendon Hartley and earlier Bruno Senna, to catch up and climb onto the lead lap, taking the lead when the WTR Cadillac came in for its 14th stop.
In GTLM, it’s back to a Ford 1-2, but because the top nine in the class are all on the same lap, the positions continue to shuffle at each caution and set of stops.
The #66 of Sebastien Bourdais leads the race once again after Toni Vilander spent significant time in first for Risi before dropping to 4th. Tony Kanaan now sits second in the #69, with the #3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen third.
GTD’s running order is still just as unpredictable as GTLM’s, with Colin Braun leading after nine hours of racing in the CORE Autosports Porsche, ahead of the #93 Acura of Graham Rahal which has climbed the standings again, a few seconds ahead of the sister #86 NSX GT3 of fellow IndyCar start Graham Rahal.
Connor De Philippi continues to keep Land Motorsports’ Audi R8 in the fight despite a delay due to a puncture, while Andrew Davis has completed the Stevenson Motorsports’ Audi’s recovery drive after it too suffered a flat tyre.
Leading just before the end of the ninth hour, and for the second time, was the sole-remaining 3GT Racing Lexus RCF GT3 of Jack Hawksworth. But the Brit had to dive into the pits after a puncture destroyed the whole rear-right corner of the car, forcing an impromptu repair job on pit lane with a lot of tank tape and a spare door.
In PC Performance Tech’s Oreca now holds a four-lap lead over the #26 Oreca of BAR 1.
